UAE based businessman B R Shetty, managing director and CEO of Neo Pharma, has signed an agreement with Prince Turki bin Mohamed bin Nasser in-charge of Jazan Industrial City and Shaikh Mohammed Rafik, chairman of Gammon Group, under which Shetty's company will invest over $266 million to establish a pharmaceutical plant in Saudi Arabia.
The Jazan Industrial City that is being developed by Gammon Group is expected to attract investments valued at $20 billion.
Prince Turki welcomed Shetty and his partners saying the government's policy is to encourage and support foreign investors to play a role in developing the economy, and the state-owned Saudi Industrial Development Fund will pay investors 75 percent of their project cost in interest-free soft loans for 20 years.
Shetty who was listed by Forbes in March as the fourth richest expatriate billionaire in the UAE said the Neo Pharmaceuticals plant in Jazan will concentrate mainly on manufacturing medicines for cancer and dengue fever.